Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-11-09
THE CITY PRISON.
A NEW BUILDING OF A PERMANENT SORT
ADVOCATED.
A COMMITTEES 10 Visit Other Citss-A Bid fol
a New Enterprise Jumped On
Routine Matters.
City Prison.

u ~
The following report, from the Commit
tee on City Prison, was the feature Of last
nights Council session. 1t is s~elf-eIplana-
tory
10 HIS Honor, the Mayor and The Council Of
the City Of WReeling:-
GRNTLEMEN:-Your committee has o q
sidered the communication of His Honor,
the Mayor, referred TO il by Council, and
would submit their report with reference
thereto. .
The Mayor states plainly the need Of q
new City Prison, and recommends that a
committee be sent to GAINESVILLE to examine
the excellent City Prison there with q
view to forming the plans for a new prison
here, with all of which this committee
fully agrees. The present city prison was
erected in 1873 for a soup house, and was
built in a very cheap manner on the sur
face of slippery ground, without any pre-
pared foundation whatever, part OF the
ioists and stills being imbedded IN wet
clay. As a consequence the building has
slipped and warped, and the jOists and sills
and a great deal of other woodwork are
rotten. .
The roof leaks badly and is rotten, and
the chimneys lean so much that there Is
great danger of their being blown over, the
consequence of which would be that they
would certainly break through the roof
and might iDjure some of the prisoners
The wooden supports on the west side OF
the building are boarded up on both sides,
and a space between the boards is packed
with tanbark that has become infested with
bugs. The bugs are so bad that the pris-
oners prefer sleeping on the floor to using
the hunks on the west side Of the build
ing.
There is no drainage under the building,
and it is damp and unhealthy. Altogether,
the building is old, rotten, leaning, twist
ed, insecure, unsafe, unhealthy aud infest-
ed with bugs. The Committee believes
that definite plans should be made for the
erection Of q new building before the ap'
preparations arc made for next year, and
that provision should he made in such ep-
preparation for a suitable building.
The committee would also state that
there is ample ground in the immediate
vicinity of the present building on which
TO erect a suitable building, and that by
removing a few feet Of clay the building
could be- erected on solid rock. The COM
mittee has tried TO be as economical as
possible this year in the hope
of getting n new building next year, and
although some bills contracted lest year
have been paid ont of this years npprc-
priation, vet if the expense of the next "
month are at the rate they have been for
the last two months, the committee will
have an u~uexpended balance OF about $iOO
which it desires to reserve for application
on the cost of a new building ndxt year.
The committee recommends that com
mittee OF three be sent to ZInesville, in
accordance with the recommendation of the
Mayor.
This matter was first alluded to last night
on the reading of the report Of the Commit
tee on Health, which recommended that
the PAYMENT of E. Bookings bill of $72.3
for medicine furnished the prisoners, be
paid out OF the City Prison appropriation.
Mr.. Allison made an energetic protest
against saddling this expense upon the
Prison, and after saying the bill lad been
paid out of the Health Committee fund
last year, proceeded to give reasons why
the same course should be followed now.
lie asked that the report of the City Prison
Committee be read, which was not done.
He was opposed vehemently by MesSrs.
Caldwell and HarTcll, these I'VE pulling to-
gejher for once in their lives. The resolu-
lion of the Committee on Health was
adopted. When the report Of the City
Prison Committee had been read, emb0dy-
ing the statement regarding a new building
given above, Mr.. Caldwell took the floor to
protest against the passage Of the resoln-
ton, because he said he was opposed to
having a city prison at all. The keeping OF
prisoners in the jail WAS better and more
economical, aud the Finance Committee of
1886 had taken the same view OF the mat
ter.
The question was put without further
remark, and the vote stood, ayes 7, roes7.
This was not 3 quorum, but the Char
(Mr. Grusc) decided tine motion lost. Mr..
Allison made n kick on this, and wanted
the ayes and nays, but the Chair said the
matter had become ancient history, and
that settled it.
Later Mr.. Garvin, who had not voted,
moved to reconsider the matter. Mr..
Caldwell raised the point that not having
voted in the negative, he had no right to
make the motion. The Chair ignored the
point, and entertained the motion, which
moved E!r. HarrelI to say 1.-THE proceeding
beat anything he ever saw" Mr.. Cald-
we'll and the Chair had some words and
finally Mr.. Caldwell weakened, and the
motion to reconsider was agreed to. The
original question, the passage of the reso-
luton, was then put, and it was adopted,
ayes 10, noes 6.
The Committee on City Prison was des-
ignated as the one to go to GAINESVILLE.